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On Tuesday 26th March I  collaborated with daniela on the production at college that day I finished structuring the beat, after lunch we went to the studio and started songwriting at the end of the session we came up with a catchy chorus.

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On Thursday 28th March I finished the structuring and started mixing and mastering the beat. Unfortunately I hit a writers block and I couldn't continue or force myself to write, so I went ahead and made a RnB and trap beat finished structuring it and done a little bit of mixing with some help from my teacher.

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In this image i got a rough draft of how the structuring should be and it was a no brainer. I structured it as Intro, Verse, Chorus. Which is very common in alot of pop songs in that order. What I liked about the instruments I used was that the piano was simple chords played  in a legato form and felt very present amongst all of the staccato and syncopated notes that are being played  in different pluck instruments. I realised the instrument and the way i played the notes complimented each other well. The long legato notes from the piano very simple, and then the rhythmic sharp staccato notes. gives a nice contrast to the beat.

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Once i heard the melodies i laid down it automatically gave me an idea to give the track a tribal feel with the drums and my teacher defintely thought the same so i used african and asian kits. I solely focused on the toms and percussions (e.g. cymbals and shakers). to give it rhythm and some low ends coming from the toms to be felt through the mix.

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I continued to listen to the beat and realised i should build the instrumentation around Daniela's vocals to see how the lyrics suit what instrument comes into play. I added more instruments that had an atmospheric vibe. So i added a water ring and pop synth instrument with a very catchy melody i came up with that flows well with the hook I made for it

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Right off the bat the piano sets the tone of the song and the little melodies and the underwater sound effect. What I did well was every instrument is heard in this track, meaning no instrument is overpowering or overshadowing another. The bells, the plucks, the arpeggiator is heard. All this is due to the mixing and mastering. the Lows to low mids were boosted on the piano which is the sweet spot with all the highs and mids from plucks and bells so it doesn't get drowned in it.

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On Wednesday 1st May I finished mixing and mastering my RnB and Trap beat. Started writing a verse and a hook. Which flowed so naturally and it was pretty easy because the melodies came to me first whilst I was listening to the beat at home. And I usually replace the melody with words.

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On Tuesday 30th April me and Daniela started to write our own verse in the studio which we booked. so far we had a chorus hook and a bridge This day was easier for me as we were exchanging sentences for our verses which defined the meaning of a collaboration down to the lyrics.

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We wasted no time and got to recording the chorus hook and bridge first. Then recorded our own verse in the end. We came to a conclusion to only record in studios and leave the mixing for another day. Which was a positive for both of us as we did not want to waste any time and be behind on our project.

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I felt like I've not been making songs to a high quality standard meaning I've lost inspiration and I've been at a standstill. So my friend invited me to a launch party of an upcoming UK artist which was something I needed to get me back on track and hopefully give my tracks a different flavour of genre.

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What I took from this launch party is the performance aspect and i was paying close attention to the audience what songs off Enigma's tracks they were hyped to the most.

The audience loved the afrobeat songs off his EP and what was intrigueing was the drill flow that he captured in his song which is quite a juxtaposition. Having a smooth chill afrobeat with a drill flow that's known for its hard hitting lyrics and aggressiveness.

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So what I did with my track 'The Motions' I incorporated the drill flow into my american style trap beat which captures the essence of a UK flow. Even though its an American trap beat I kept to my roots and used that drill flow however I switched the context because drill is all about violence and killings. I made sure it was suited to the beat contextually speaking.

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I got inspired in the process to at least perform at one open mic which I did.

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I've watched Kanye West: The Making Of "Graduation". This documentary influenced my snippet called "Till Tomorrow"

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I wanted the kick snare and hi hat to sound old and vintage so give a different sound which stands out in the EP. I've noticed that Kanye has been heavily influenced by Boom Bap which is an East coast Hip - Hop genre. Songs on his album such as 'Barry Bonds' and ' I Wonder' show that Boom Bap influenced.

So I had to test the water and try a simple Kick snare and Hi Hat for my snippet 'Til Tomorrow'. The bell melody was quite bright so I cut some of the high to mid end but did not boost anything. It was missing that bit of distortion or crunch texture so i added an distorted organ playing the same melody but in a lower octave and the bass which defined the low end of the track which was missing.

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On Sunday 19th May I've recorded a short track called "Issues"

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This track has been heavily influenced by Drake's Song 'Headlines'.
As you'll hear in the chords and I pay homage in the track as well.

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What I had in mind for this track was to layer harmonies and make them sound soft and ethereal.
The way I did achieved this sound was by figuring out where I wanted to cut and boost in the EQ I cut a little bit of the low end around 80 to 90hz boosted the mids around 1650hz to 1700hz.

So I had two of the same melodies i recorded then another two in a different key to harmonize. I panned them all to the left and right so its sounds wider and spacey along with some chorus and reverb.
To give an ethereal sound to it. I used a limiter and used the saturation highly but to me it sounds softer and warmer so I went ahead and used the saturation.

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The problem I had when recording my vocals for 'Issues' was the mic not picking up my voice the way I wanted it to (Dynamic issue) and it really showed in my track as a whole that the dynamics were all over the place some tracks were low some track were loud. What I should've done was had a reference track and use it on Match EQ on Logic Pro. This would've given me a goal to reach or a template to guide me. And make it professional sounding.

What went well was my mixing on the harmonies and manoeuvring around my drawbacks which was my computer crashing down so I had my stems on a usb and used my pc.

What I could've done better was the mixing of the actual beat hi hats sound very sharp and harsh I could've cut some highs.

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Another track on my 'Perception' EP is called 'There For You' which is me asking questions to my love
"Would you ride for me?" or "Lying with someone else please don't lie to me" this shows the vulnerable side of me, showing that I've been let down many times but even if i do something stupid would you still be there with me because i'll be 'There For You'.

The beat has a underlying tone of a bittersweet mood so i highlighted the beat with the lyrics of being scared to love.

When it came to recording I did have issues with my computer crashing again. But I rebooted my laptop and cleaned it up to make it run smoother and it worked well.

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The chorus I wrote in third person about myself but it could be about anyone that's why I did it in third person (e.g. she) so it can be relatable to any girl or a boy who has a girl going through what I'm going through. By doing that I think it'll be a successful track on the EP because of how relatable it is.

I've asked a few of my friends what was their favourite track of my EP and why.

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I've noticed the when the synth bass comes in at 1:17 it sounds too loud so I should've lowered the volume.

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What I did different in my EP this time around was I added an interlude and a snippet. Which I thought was a clever tactic using a snippet of a song i'll be releasing in the summer.

The reason I used snippets was to draw listeners to it and ask for more which often leads to them listening to other old songs I've released on Soundcloud.

Why I used an interlude was to kinda give an insight of the person I am just by my voice and the way I talk to my friends. To basically give an impression to my listeners.

Overall I'm happy with how I managed my time I gave myself a time limit to work on certain sections (e.g. production, songwriting). I also did stick to my truth in terms of context I kept my theme consistent talking about love, from 'Issues' talking about a rocky relationship to 'Til Tomorrow' about self - love and boosting your confidence from hard times.

Even though I said no collaborations on my EP Daniela was very reliable and I saw how adamant and dedication she was to make a pop song she already had a rough draft of melodies so I gave her a chance and we just clicked. We were giving each other ideas and flows for the song and she mixed and mastered the track.

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Stream Perception EP, a playlist by Frooze Beats from desktop or your mobile device

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However what I had a problem was managing my time I took longer than I initially thought I would with both songwriting and structuring the song. So I had to leave that for tomorrow and go onto making a RnB and Trap.

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What I could've done was add effects to keep listeners active and engaged with song and not be repetitive. I wanted to use two vst's called 'Gross Beat' and 'Fruity Love Philter' which comes with presets that manipulate the dynamics, panning, frequencies of a track.
Also

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On the other hand I knew what I wanted to get done which was finished the beat entirely mixed and mastered ready to record which I did so I was happy with my result.

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At the end of that session I was happy to have recorded the chorus, hook and a bridge. I planned out my time efficiently which gave me and Daniela more time to evaluate our cadence and flow to when we record our verses.

What went well was how I recorded my verse with a lot of energy really projected my emotions into all the words I was rapping about.

What I could've done was add ad-libs to my verse to strengthen my part as a whole, ad-libs tend to catch a listeners attention which I needed to do.

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how did i solve my problems?
e.g. recording came out a certain sound did you experiment with an eq did you look up a video on youtube.

more research
what other things inspired my EP other songs or artists how they articulate words (e.g. eric bellinger, russ)

makings of a genius videos
russ in the studio videos

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The song 'The Motions' was inspired by Eric Bellinger who is an RnB artist especially with the beat I made which is a RnB and Trap fusion that eric is well known for.

What I've noticed is that in the chorus words like

"She couldn't Say"

"What she wanted To"

"She don't want no Games"

"Only wanted You"

I articulated these words in a quirky and eccentric way like Eric Bellinger does.

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In this song called 'Luh Me' Eric emphasises the words as the chorus comes in first.

"Then you pack your Bag"

"Don't do me like That"

"I Apologise"

Many reasons to this one of them being it's very catchy and pleasing to the ear the way he falls off the words.

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I think that this is a very unique way to approach songwriting and finding a sound and a way to sing that could eventually be a signature. This made me look forward to the future when I do sing i'll keep in mind ways to approach certain words and how to articulate them to catch listeners off guard.

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In this song I wanted for my listeners to feel like they can relate to it or they've been in a situation like it. I asked one of my peers and her conclusion solidifies the context of my song is in fact relatable.

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In this track I wanted to make